The annual celestial event known as Perseid meteor shower, will be visible from Wednesday night. It is predicted to reach its peak before dawn on Thursday (August 12).
Many skygazers have said that this year’s conditions are as near to perfect as can be to watch the meteor shower.
What is the Perseid metor shower?
The tail of comet Swift-Tuttle deposited a stream of dust in the space. Every year, the Earth passes through this region – it begins around July 17 and continues till August 24.
In between this period, when the Earth passes through the densest part of the tenuous “river of rubble” (around August 12), it triggers the peak of meteor shower.
The comet is so named because it was independently discovered by Lewis Swift and Horace Parnell Tuttle in July 1862.
Where will this be visible?
The Perseid meteor shower will be visible in the northern hemisphere and down to the mid-southern latitudes, according to earthsky.org.
Upto 60 meteors per hour are expected to be visible during the peak of the shower, EarthSky further reported.
Those who are interested in watching the meteor shower, need to find the darkest possible location away from city lights. Though the meteors shine brightly, an equally bright moon can make the viewing a little bit tricky.
What is the best time to enjoy the meteor shower?
Astronomy lovers can catch the best glimpses of meteors soon after evening twilight ends, say experts. By then, the shower’s radiant – its perspective point of origin in the constellation Perseus – has risen above the northeastern horizon.
The higher the radiant, the more meteors you’ll see.
Diana Hannikainen, Sky & Telescope’s Observing Editor, said that these ‘shooting stars’ can appear anywhere and everywhere in the sky.
Is special equipment needed to watch it?
No, say the experts. All you just have to do is to find a dark spot away from bright lights with a wide-open view all around if possible.
The meteor shower will be visible for those too who relax – either in a reclining lawn chair or a ground cloth.
Faint Perseids appear as tiny, quick streaks. Occasional brighter ones might sail across the sky for several seconds and leave a brief train of glowing smoke.
What are meteors?
Meteors are caused by tiny, sandgrain- to pea-size bits of dusty debris striking the top of Earth’s atmosphere roughly 80 miles (130 km) up. Each Perseid zips in at 37 miles per second, glowing as it burns to soot and creating a quick, white-hot streak of superheated air.
The nuggets in Grape Nuts cereal are a close match to the estimated size, colour, and texture of typical meteor-shower particles.
